Sam Hunt - Montevallo

Hello, friends. I'm doing something a little different today. I got contacted to do a review for this one yesterday, and I thought it sounded like fun. I'm super grateful for the opportunity to mix it up a little bit, especially because this is about as far as it gets from what I'm normally listening to. So here is Montevallo, Sam Hunt's debut album with MCA Nashville. 

First of all, I'm clearly not the target audience for this album, and it's painfully clear that this album has a "target audience." Sam Hunt is pretty much the pop-country darling of 2014 -- He has millions of views on YouTube already (Vevo, specifically), he's a former college football player, and his first single off Montevallo hit platinum last week and is still hanging out at the top of the Country Billboard chart. So, no, I would never listen to this album on my own. Truthfully, I probably would not have even known about it had I not been given the CD yesterday, but I'm going to give genuine feedback, because no one wants me to rip apart pop music just for being pop music. I don't even want to do that. I don't really even have a problem with pop music.

What I do have a problem with is the sheer volume of contrived lyrics that span the entire length of this release. There's nothing on this album that hasn't been done before, and nothing really stands out lyrically at any point. Every song is about girls, having a good time, or having a good time with a girl. You know, heterosexual guy stuff. Musical talent isn't an issue here -- there's no doubt he can sing and he's a solid guitarist, and although Montevallo is thoroughly produced, seeing one of Mr. Hunt's acoustic performances is pretty impressive. That said, it's disappointing that someone can pick up a guitar, play it well, and then want to write a song like "House Party." Surprise, it's about throwing a house party. "Ex to See" tries to offer a tiny bit of clever wordplay with a quirky double entendre, but the rest of the lyrics are so cringeworthy ("I ain't no fool, you rascal, you!), that it dilutes most of the excitement. "Take Your Time" is a pretty standard hook-up song, but I think Carly Rae Jepsen did it better with "Call Me Maybe" back in 2012. It would be nice to see the musicality that Hunt clearly has showcased a little more creatively.

Fortunately, average lyrics don't completely spoil Montevallo, and it all works pretty well when Hunt isn't trying to take things too seriously. "Raised On It" offers a pretty fun take on the American nostalgia that shows up in numerous releases every year, reminiscing about "Snapbacks and Levi Jeans, PBR and burnt CD's." It's not deep or contemplative, but it's not really trying to be, and that makes the lyrical content a lot more forgivable. The same thing applies in "Leave The Night On," the big hit of the album. It's just a track about staying up late and having fun, so there's no point in trying to make it seem like anything more than that.

The production is pretty airtight and there are some interesting arrangements going on every once in awhile. The guitar hook on "Raised On It" is super catchy, backed by a quick snare roll and polished off with gang vocals. Sometimes, Hunt employs a little spoken work to mix up the singing, which can be endearing when it doesn't sound like a cop-out for fitting a bunch of words into one song (See, "Break Up In A Small Town"). Unfortunately, that's about as wild as it gets, and every single song starts off with either a slow piano melody or some acoustic guitar strumming. Maybe I'm just crazy for wanting to see a little more innovation from an album like this.

All in all, I appreciate Montevallo for what it is. It's a total summer feel-good album, released in late October for whatever reason, and it's pretty much what I would expect to hear on the radio. Some of these tracks are undeniably catchy, sure (even as I wrap this up, I have the pseudo-drop from "Break Up In A Small Town" stuck in my head), but it's never provocative enough. Hunt literally censors himself in a couple songs, and in situations where a nice blunt curse word would make him seem like a real human being. There's not a hint of ill-will at any point, which might be good for a country star, but it's not enough if he ever wants to break out of the boundaries that separate country from the rest of the pop music atmosphere. If there's no Twitter beef or ridiculous publicity stunt to supplement the well-behaved vibe that comes from the lyrics on Montevallo, people like me most likely won't see much of an artist like Sam Hunt.  So for now, Sam Hunt will probably sit comfortably at the top of the country charts, and who am I to say that there's something wrong with that? In fact, I have the utmost respect for any artist that handles fame with grace, and hopefully, when I hear about Sam in the future, it's because of good music and not because of bad press. Here's to you, Sam Hunt: May your country-tinged reign be just and dignified.